Anderson's First Bite of the Big Apple

"Start spreading the news

I am leaving today

I want to be a part of it

New York, New York"

-John Kander and Fred Ebb

Well, we arrived in New York City late Wednesday night (Dec. 19) and stayed in a hotel in Astoria near the airport.  Anderson was a trooper as we arrived well past his bedtime and he was still maintaining a smile. When we woke up on Thursday, we headed into Manhatten to stay at another hotel there for the rest of our trip.  This was our first time staying in Time Square and it was amazing!  It took us awhile to get the hang of doing everything (the subway, stairs, crowds) with Anderson. We had the stroller, which had to be folded as it would not fit in the turnstile, and we had Anderson, who had to be carried.  I literally do not know how single moms in NYC do it.  Whew! When we got close to our hotel, Anderson noticed "Melmo"! Turns out, to get a picture with Melmo, it costs money. So we grabbed a couple pics (Spongebob just sort of bullied his way into the pictures, Anderson didn't actually care at all about him), "tipped" Melmo, and quickly made our getaway to pass up any other characters.

We got settled in the room and decided to paint the town. We started at the largest Toys R Us in the nation. We met Geoffrey and a few other friends as well.  Anderson was not sure about any of these guys at first, but once he warmed up, he seemed pretty impressed.

We also tried out a couple of the toys.

After some lunch and a long nap, we headed back out. We went to Macy's to meet "the real Santa!" Well, it seemed everyone else in Manhatten had that very same idea at that very same time. Luckily, Richard asked the right questions and got us an express pass from a very friendly elf. That means we didn't have to wait in line. Richard just downloaded the Macy's app onto his phone while Anderson and I tested some of the products.

Once, that was finished, we were in to see Santa in 5 minutes. It was awesome! We got to spend a good 5 minutes with Santa. Anderson gave him high fives and a hug! He didn't tell Santa what he wanted, but I've heard Santa has a knack for knowing that kind of thing.

When we were finished with that, we headed outside to admire the Macy's windows. They are always so incredible and we were not disappointed this year! We went through and spent time at each one and Anderson gave each window and good long stare.

We also got to see the Empire State building from far away. After Richard pointed it out, Anderson kept his eye on it.  I swear he is better with directionality than I am.

After that adventure, we noticed that it started to cool down a bit, so we headed back to the hotel to add layers. Once we thawed, we went to get some dinner. Anderson had beans!

Full and content, we headed to Rockefeller Center to see the big tree. On the way, we ran into some good photo ops.

They didn't charge us...just saying.  The tree was ginormous! Anderson's mouth dropped and in that moment, the whole trip was worth it!

After all of that, it was bed time in the Big Apple (at least for us).

When we woke up on December 21, 2012, we were glad to see that the world had, in fact, not ended. To celebrate, we went to FAO Schwartz. It was a long walk, but it was worth it! We passed the Plaza (a landmark to those of us who are Home Alone 2 watchers and the Apple Store (which, by the way, you descend into from the street level...crazy) and walked right up to the guard and said..."can we get a picture?" 

He agreed and we were on our way in! We played with just about every toy in the store and had a great time!  By the way, if you are interested in purchasing the Big Piano (it IS for sale), it will only set you back $250,000.

After we tested out all of their products, we walked out, without a purchase if you can believe it, and found a carriage to take us through Central Park. Buddy the horse took us through the park. It was cold, but we learned all kinds of fun facts about New York City!

After the carriage ride ended, Anderson was so excited to see all the pigeons. He fed them some Teddy Grahams and chased them around! He ran and laughed out loud from his gut (one of the best sounds in the world)!

We spent most of the early afternoon in the hotel room. Anderson LOVED the hotel room, it was his favorite attraction! There were at least a million pillows on the bed to jump on and wallow in as well as a great view of the street (where "Melmo" spent his time). 

In the evening, we had dinner with Peggy and Anna and had a great time! They ordered in and gave Anderson a safe place to run around! Anderson very much enjoyed their company (as Richard and I always do) and it was so nice to spend time with relatives!

On the subway ride home, Anderson made friends with a woman in the same car we were in. He desperately wanted to honk her nose, but we were persistent that that would not be a good way to express his feelings for her.
Near the end of the evening, Richard and I discussed the distinct possibility that by the end of the trip, we would spend more money on pictures with characters than on our hotel room. Ha!

We arrived at the hotel and said goodnight once again to NYC.

Anderson woke up on day three of our trip asking to see "Melmo" and ran over to the window to try to find him.
After breakfast, Anderson took his first bubble bath! At first, he was skeptical…

…but after awhile, he decided that it was pretty fun! He splashed around and played until the water turned cold.

Once he was clean, we headed out to the 9/11 Memorial. It was so cold and windy, it started snowing a bit, but we pressed on…well, most of us did.

We arrived at the memorial sight and it was lovely. I believe the city of New York has worked really hard to ensure that those who gave their lives that day will forever be remembered. The pools were enormous and majestic and Anderson was very impressed with all the water.

After that, we got some lunch and went back to the hotel for a nap. Once fully rested, we played a bit in the room!

We decided to leave our little attraction to do some shopping. We literally walked into the Disney store for about 2 minutes and turned right back around because it was so crazy!  Some parents would kill for a pair of "Wreck it Ralph" hands right before Christmas. Then, we went over to the M&M store where Anderson made a friend.

After the shopping, we decided to head to Rockefeller Center to get a better look at the tree. We ended up getting a lot more than that! Turns out, Elmo and Cookie Monster hang out there as well!

Once we broke Anderson from the "Melmo" spell he was under, we got to witness a light show on the side of a building. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know which building, but it was a building right at the end of the entrance to Rockefeller Center.

From there, we inched our way to the Rockefeller Center entrance. We sat a while and just took it all in.

We ate a late dinner and settled in for our last night in The Big Apple.

We were thrilled to wake up and learn that Toys R Us was open 24 hours because of the holidays. We headed down with Anderson still in his pajamas to do some end-of-trip shopping (trust me, it's a thing)! We also went down (dressed in real clothes, this time) to Bryant Park to watch the ice skaters.

From there, we turned the corner and went to the New York Public Library. Although it was closed, we spent some quality time with the lions out front! We were not the only ones with this idea, but everyone was friendly enough. I suppose the calm atmosphere of a library will do that to people.

Once we got back to the hotel room, it was time to go to the airport and get ourselves home. It was a fantastic trip and really got us all in the mood for the holidays!